Santo Domingo/Washington, D.C., December 12, 2012
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today announced a five-year, local-currency loan of 195 million Dominican pesos (approximately $5 million) to Asociación La Nacional to provide mortgage lending for low- and middle-income housing as well as financing for small businesses in the Dominican Republic.
The investment is aligned with the World Bank and IFC’s Country Partnership Strategy in the Dominican Republic, which aims to support sustainability and promote access to finance. It is also aligned with IFC’s Caribbean strategy to promote economic development through financial inclusion.
“Providing housing loans to low- and middle-income individuals is our mission, especially for those outside large urban centers across the Dominican Republic,” said Francisco Melo, Vice President of La Nacional. “With IFC’s support, La Nacional will be able to grow its business in a market where commercial banks operate primarily in the largest urban areas and tend to focus on middle- to upper-income individuals.”
“The housing sector in the Dominican Republic is behind other Latin American peers, particularly the low- and middle-income segments, where access to finance has been insufficient,” said Jun Zhang, IFC Regional Manager for the Caribbean. “IFC’s financing to La Nacional will help expand their loan portfolio to low- and middle-income individuals and will positively impact the development of the domestic capital market.”
The investment is funded with proceeds from the IFC Taino Bond, issued earlier this month. The bond is IFC's first domestic issue in the Dominican Republic and raised 390 million Dominican pesos (approximately $10 million). It is also the first IFC bond in Latin America and the Caribbean whose proceeds are directly linked to investments in the local private sector, creating access to local-currency financing while providing a viable channel for domestic savings to be directed into productive, long-term investments.
Over the last three years, IFC invested $638 million in the Caribbean. In 2011 alone, IFC created over 28,000 jobs in the region and reached more than 130,000 patients, 2,300 students, and 4 million customers through power generation.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, mobilizing capital in international financial markets, and providing advisory services to businesses and governments. In FY12, our investments reached an all-time high of more than $20 billion, leveraging the power of the private sector to create jobs, spark innovation, and tackle the world’s most pressing development challenges. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
About La Nacional
La Nacional was founded in 1972 and is the largest
Asociación
in the Dominican Republic. Initially focused solely on providing mortgage loans for low-income housing, it has diversified its scope of products since 2003, offering commercial loans, particularly to small and medium enterprises and consumer loans. La Nacional is headquartered in Santo Domingo with 48 branches, among which 23 are located outside of the province of Santo Domingo, with presence in the north, east and center of the country.
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